The Next Messenger
by SmokeyStorm
Summary: The next messenger has been chosen. Smokey was once just your typical loner, but one great sacrifice changed all of that.
1. Chapter 1

Smokey sat calming in the dark branches of a tree, grooming her short, white fur; her darker tail swished below her. Her luminous, turquoise eyes grazed over the barren forest and the quiet twolegplace. It was late into the cold season, as the ground was already well-padded with snow.

She looked up at the sound of echoing voices of kits.

* * *

Cloud and Soot were playing happily. Cloud's dark pelt stuck out against the white, much like's Soot's ears did. They matched; one was black with white ears while the other was white with black ears, and both had glowing, green eyes.

"Catch me it you can, slow mouse!" Soot called over at his sister as he bounced ahead.

"No far!" Cloud panted as she struggled to keep up with her shorter legs. "Slow down! We're supposed to stick together."

Cloud gave up on her efforts of catching her older brother, and slowed to a halt, panting heavily. She watched helplessly as her brother disappeared from view.

* * *

Smokey looked up at the darkening clouds. _It will snow again, soon,_ she thought, then looked down at the small, black she-kit. _She will die if she does not find shelter._

Smokey sighed and stood up from her branch, leaping to a higher one. She continued to watch as the little kit's sibling came back.

* * *

"Sheesh, Cloud, you could have just said you didn't want to play anymore," Soot snorted in laughter. "I mean, seriously, we could have–"

Soot's eyes widened and he flattened his ears, crouching close to the ground and whimpering.

Cloud gave her brother a confused looked followed his gaze behind her. Seeing what he saw, she crouched next to him and stared up at the big, growling, arctic fox.

"F-f-f-fox!" she screeched. "Run!"

Soot didn't have to be told twice, and turned and ran without a second glance. Cloud tried to follow, but couldn't keep up.

"Hey! Wait for me! Soot! Soot!" Cloud called desperately as the fox caught up to her.

* * *

Smokey perked her ears at the kits' squealing. She glanced over and saw the large white fox they were shrieking about. Smokey narrowed her eyes and jumped from tree-to-tree, until she was right above the fox. Not wasting any time, she dropped out of the tree and onto the fox's shoulders, digging her claws in.

The fox growled in pain and rolled over, but not before Smokey jumped clear. She slashed at the fox's face, momentarily blinding it.

* * *

Cloud looked back at the sound of a commotion. She saw a tall, but clearly young, white she-cat fighting of the fox.

"Go! Run! Hide!" the she-cat hissed at her before the fox charged again. Cloud dove under the roots of the nearest tree and watched how the battle played out. With a start, she realized her brother was also there.

"Cloud! You're safe," he mewed in relief.

Cloud hissed at Soot, shocking him. "No thanks to you!" Before her brother could respond, she turned back to the battle.

* * *

Smokey rolled, slashed, and bit. The fox fought back with equally damaging moves – neither had properly been taught how to fight.

Suddenly, the fox sliced open her throat; a move that would have killed her instantly, had it been deeper. With a final, choked yowl, she plunged her claws deep into the fox's throat.

Both white fox and white cat lay bleeding in the snow. They were connected: they died in the same heartbeat.

Smokey's last thought before she died is the fox wasn't trying to be truly evil; he was just trying to get a meal in cold leaf bare. Like her, the fox probably hadn't eaten in a while. Smokey realized that she probably shouldn't have intervened, and just let nature take the weak one. She knew that the kit she saved was probably the stronger of the two, in heart.

She regretted nothing.

And so did the fox.


	2. Chapter 2

Smokey awoke to nothingness. Panicked, she flayed around desperately.

"It's okay, young one. No need to fear," came a soothing, yet sad, voice. A voice that sounded as if it had the weight of the world on its shoulders.

Out of the darkness came as silver she-cat with sad, golden eyes. "You have been chosen for a great honor, Smokey," she said.

Smokey blinked and stared at her, and, despite her many buzzing questions, decided to remain silent.

"You are in the Unknown, and you have been chosen to be the next spirit, the next messenger. I am Fangspirit, and I will be your mentor," Fangspirit informed her. "Yes, you are dead. Come, I shall give you a tour of the places a dead cat will go, as it is the job of the messenger to deliver the dead to their rightful place."

Smokey's paws finally found hard ground, and she followed Fangspirit into the darkness.

* * *

Smokeyspirit had never retrieved a dying cat by herself before. She had done plenty with her mentor, even Cloud's brother, when he had slipped and fallen off of a waterfall; which is where she learned of the name of the kit she saved all those moons ago.

Right now, she was in a cave. A cave behind a roaring waterfall much like the one Soot had died from. This was the worst part of retrieving dead cats, to her, at least; retrieving kits. She watched solemnly as the breathing of the kit faded and the starving kit was finally put out of her pain. Her spirit rose, shimmering and healthy. She was startled when she saw Smokeyspirit.

"Easy, Fluttering Bird," Smokeyspirit soothed.

"A-am I dead?" the young tribe cat asked.

Sadly, Smokeyspirit nodded. "I am here to guide to you the Tribe of Endless Hunting."

"B-but I need to say goodbye! Jagged Peak…" Fluttering Bird looked down at her paws.

Smokeyspirit walked over and rested her tail on the brown she-kit's shoulders. "Truthfully, there is now reason to say goodbye. Just because they cannot see you doesn't mean you aren't there. You will guide your brothers on their long journey, for they have troubling times ahead of them. Now come, perhaps you can meet Jay's Wing?"

Fluttering Bird looked up and Smokeyspirit and nodded, allowing her to lead her to the Tribe of Endless Hunting.


End file.
